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Microplastics in Urban Runoff and Wastewater: Sources, Transport, and Advanced Removal Technologies
Summary
This research review found that tiny plastic particles called microplastics are getting into our water systems through city runoff and sewage, coming from sources like car tire wear, synthetic clothing, and construction materials. While current water treatment plants can remove many of these plastic particles, a significant amount still escapes into rivers, lakes, and other water bodies that could eventually reach our drinking water. The study highlights that we need better water treatment technology and monitoring to protect our water supply from this growing plastic pollution problem.
The microplastics have become the ubiquitous pollutants in urban water bodies, and urban run-off and wastewatersystems have become more identified as the primary routes of transfer of these particles to waterways. Blisteringurbanization, the heightening of anthropogenic processes as well as the vast development of plastic-relatedmaterials have enhanced the creation and mobilization of microplastics among urban landscapes. It is a thoroughlyresearched evidence-based article that synthesizes the existing body of knowledge on the origins, transportprocesses, and novel technologies to remove microplastics in urban runoff and wastewater systems. Based solelyon the peer-reviewed literature, the study focuses on the main urban sources of microplastics, such as road-relatedabrasion, man-made textiles, construction materials, and degradation of urban surfaces, as well as theirphysicochemical properties and their spatial-temporal distribution. The transfer and distribution of microplasticsthrough the stormwater drainage systems and the wastewater treatment facilities are examined critically withspecific focus on hydrological processes, particle-surfaces interaction and process-specific retention andaccumulation effects. In addition, the efficacy of traditional treatment procedures and new developed advancedremoval systems and technologies- filtration systems, nature-based treatment systems, and modular storm watertreatment units are assessed as per the removability rates and the working constraints. The results highlight thefact that the current urban water treatment frameworks are able to eliminate a significant portion of microplastics,but still a large amount of them escapes the treatment and finds its way into natural water bodies. The continuousmethodological discrepancies, the absence of long-term monitoring, and the lack of the integration of thestormwater and wastewater management measures will remain the major issues. The conclusion of this review isthat major research gaps and implications of policy are observed and that urban water management frameworksand new innovations in treatment should be integrated to effectively limit microplastic pollution in urban waters.
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